THE head of the St Ekaterina Hospital in Sofia is reported to have asked for the law to be changed so that all potential donors of hearts and lungs are transported to his hospital to be used for transplants when they die - a move critics describe as an attempt to secure a monopoly.
Professor Alexander Chirkov was quoted by Standart daily last week as saying he wanted to have talks with the Health Ministry about the proposal.
"The idea is that people between life and death will come to us, and we will make the last attempt to save their life, and if we fail we shall transplant their organs," Chirkov was quoted as saying.
Chirkov said the law currently did not allow this, but he would try to propose an amendment so that the work of his hospital could become more effective.
"Other hospitals in the country are just not equipped to do such operations," Chirkov told Standart.
When The Sofia Echo attempted to contact Chirkov to comment on the report, his secretary said he was very busy with the opening of a new building at the hospital, and was not available for comment.
The Health Ministry press office, asked for comment, referred inquiries to the Bulgarian State Co-ordination Centre for Transplan-tation, Bultransplant.
Bultransplant press office head Milena Zaharieva told The Echo: "The legislation is very well-thought through and misuse of patients between life and death is impossible".
She rejected any speculation there would be bad treatment of helpless people between life and death whose organs could be used to save the lives of wealthy patients.
Even the existing corruption could not lead to misuse of donors, Zaharieva said, because "not the patient chooses the donor, but the donor defines the patient, as there should be tissue compatibility between the two."
She said that there were 14 donor bases in the countries, and three hospitals were authorised by the state to carry out transplantations - St Ekaterina, Aleksandrov-ska Hospital and Pirogov Emer-gency Hospital.
Apart from his statements to the press, Chirkov had not made any official proposals regarding the hospital headed by him becoming the only one to carry out such operations, Zaharieva said.
Monopolising organ transplantation in a poor country like Bulgaria where corruption is still at significant levels would lead to suspicions of ill-treatment.
Organ-trafficking organised crime networks target poor European countries such as Esto-nia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, where people are pressured into selling their kidneys for as little as $2500, a report by the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly said.
The report, published this month, was covered by the European media. Europe's poorest country, Moldova, where the average monthly salary is less than $50, is a prime target for traffickers, said Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, author of the report.
Health Minister Slavcho Bo-goev told a news conference that by the end of 2003, Bulgaria would create standards for transplantations in order to improve co-ordination and to set universal rules.
The standards will be included in 14 regulations that the Health Ministry will draft for the implementation of the Transplantation Act, which was vetoed earlier by President Georgi Purvanov. The new law will probably come into force on January 1, 2004. The standards will include all actions covering the process from the explanation to the transplantation, the deadlines and the responsibilities of the individuals involved. The standards will be prepared by leading transplantation experts, who have already met with Bogoev to discuss the amendments.
Annually, the state will extend 15 million leva for transplantations, and this sum is to be increased subsequently. The transplantations could be funded not only by the state budget, but also by private investors and external donors, Bogoev said.
Professor Alexander Chirkov was quoted by Standart daily last week as saying he wanted to have talks with the Health Ministry about the proposal.
"The idea is that people between life and death will come to us, and we will make the last attempt to save their life, and if we fail we shall transplant their organs," Chirkov was quoted as saying.
Chirkov said the law currently did not allow this, but he would try to propose an amendment so that the work of his hospital could become more effective.
"Other hospitals in the country are just not equipped to do such operations," Chirkov told Standart.
When The Sofia Echo attempted to contact Chirkov to comment on the report, his secretary said he was very busy with the opening of a new building at the hospital, and was not available for comment.
The Health Ministry press office, asked for comment, referred inquiries to the Bulgarian State Co-ordination Centre for Transplan-tation, Bultransplant.
Bultransplant press office head Milena Zaharieva told The Echo: "The legislation is very well-thought through and misuse of patients between life and death is impossible".
She rejected any speculation there would be bad treatment of helpless people between life and death whose organs could be used to save the lives of wealthy patients.
Even the existing corruption could not lead to misuse of donors, Zaharieva said, because "not the patient chooses the donor, but the donor defines the patient, as there should be tissue compatibility between the two."
She said that there were 14 donor bases in the countries, and three hospitals were authorised by the state to carry out transplantations - St Ekaterina, Aleksandrov-ska Hospital and Pirogov Emer-gency Hospital.
Apart from his statements to the press, Chirkov had not made any official proposals regarding the hospital headed by him becoming the only one to carry out such operations, Zaharieva said.
Monopolising organ transplantation in a poor country like Bulgaria where corruption is still at significant levels would lead to suspicions of ill-treatment.
Organ-trafficking organised crime networks target poor European countries such as Esto-nia, Bulgaria, Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Romania, Moldova, and Ukraine, where people are pressured into selling their kidneys for as little as $2500, a report by the Council of Europe's parliamentary assembly said.
The report, published this month, was covered by the European media. Europe's poorest country, Moldova, where the average monthly salary is less than $50, is a prime target for traffickers, said Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, author of the report.
Health Minister Slavcho Bo-goev told a news conference that by the end of 2003, Bulgaria would create standards for transplantations in order to improve co-ordination and to set universal rules.
The standards will be included in 14 regulations that the Health Ministry will draft for the implementation of the Transplantation Act, which was vetoed earlier by President Georgi Purvanov. The new law will probably come into force on January 1, 2004. The standards will include all actions covering the process from the explanation to the transplantation, the deadlines and the responsibilities of the individuals involved. The standards will be prepared by leading transplantation experts, who have already met with Bogoev to discuss the amendments.
Annually, the state will extend 15 million leva for transplantations, and this sum is to be increased subsequently. The transplantations could be funded not only by the state budget, but also by private investors and external donors, Bogoev said.
